CNO Sesquicentennial celebration is an absolute lie

By David Cornsilk
April 13 2008

True this is the sesquicentennial date of the Cherokee nation from the advent of the 1839 Constitution of the Cherokee Nation which this LIE makes a total mockery of, by an entity usurping the Sovereign rights of the Cherokee People, and was only established by Ross Swimmer in 1975, the "Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma" (CNO)

Part -1
If you read the press releases regarding the upcoming Cherokee Nation Holiday with any understanding of what they are saying, you the reader will learn the truth. They cannot celebrate the 1906 Five Civilized Tribes Act without actually telling the truth about what it means.

The reader should note that the CNO admits three basic facts in each of their press releases which provide proof positive that the constitutional government of the Cherokee people created in 1839 continued on after Oklahoma statehood. And if the reader can achieve this understanding, then the logical question then becomes, "By what authority did Ross Swimmer create a new constitution?"

And if the answer to that question is, as I contend, he had no authority, then the government he created is not the Cherokee Nation, as yet still continued in "full force and effect" as it existed in 1906.

1. CNO makes it clear that the government of the Cherokee people, styled The Cherokee Nation, was created by the Constitution of 1839, and;

2. CNO makes it clear that the constitutional government of the Cherokee Nation was continued in full force and effect by the 1906 Five Civilized Tribes Act, and;



In 1934, Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act, but exempted Oklahoma from its provisions. In 1936, Congress corrected itself and passed the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act, which provided for a "new day" by which tribes could reorganize their governments and citizenship any way they wanted. However, they must permit all citizens and their voting age descendants a vote, even if it would remove them from the tribe. To date, the Cherokee Nation has not organized under that act and is not rehabilitated by its provisions. The Cherokee Nation remains disabled by the Curtis Act and only the right to popularly select the principal chief has been restored.

In 1970, Congress passed the Principal Chiefs Act, which provided in just a few words, that the Cherokee people shall have the authority to popularly select their principal chief. This act further provided that the Principal Chief shall "promulgate rules" to carry into effect the election. Nowhere in federal law does it provide for the rehabilitation of the Cherokee Nation by removing the disabilities imposed by the Curtis Act and the 1906 Five Tribes Act, except for holding elections for chief.

In 1975, Principal Chief Ross O. Swimmer brings forth what he describes as a "new constitution" to replace the constitution of 1839. He claims that the "inherent sovereignty" of the Cherokee Nation gave him that right. This contention was false and continues to be false. The inherent sovereignty of the Cherokee Nation was already delegated and could not be diverted for his own use. The Cherokee people had delegated their inherent sovereignty to the Cherokee government by and through the 1839 Constitution. The only way for inherent sovereignty to be used differently would be for the Cherokee people to withdraw their support of the 1839 constitution by and through its provisions for amendment or by a constitutional convention under the terms set by Cherokee law. None of this happened.


3. CNO makes it clear that the Cherokee National Holiday, begun in 1953, was developed to celebrate the signing of the 1839 Constitution.

If the 1906 Five Civilized Tribes Act continued the "constitutional governments" of the Five Civilized Tribes, then where did those governments go? Three of those tribes, the Creeks, Choctaws and Chickasaws, operate under revised constitutions in accordance with the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act. The Seminole Nation and Cherokee Nation did not, and under the same disabilities imposed by the Curtis Act (no courts, laws unenforceable), Five Tribes Act (government continues on, President to appoint Principal Chief) and the Principal Chiefs Act (Cherokee people get to popularly select Principal Chief, who is authorized to 'promulgate rules').

We saw from the previous article by Mildred Mellowbug in 1973, posted by Marvin Summerfield, that the Cherokee people were in the process of revising the 1839 Constitution to create a real representative government, when that process was hijacked by Ross O. Swimmer when he created the organization known as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma by ignoring the Cherokee people's revisions and created his own constitution of 1975.

He claimed, as has every chief since him, that the authority to create this constitutional government is derived from the 1970 Principal Chiefs Act. Yet, any reasonably intelligent reader can simply look at the wording of that act, which provides for the Principal Chief to "promulgate rules" for an election and nothing more, and ascertain that Swimmer had no authority to create a new constitution.

These are not revelations unknown to the leadership of the CNO. The evidence of their efforts to cover up and validate the CNO government is evident in the language inserted into the Delaware Recognition Bill which states that the United States recognize the CNO and its 1975/99 constitution as the only valid governing document.

I have said this before and offer it again: if the CNO is the legitimate government of the Cherokee Nation, then why would such language be necessary? The traditional language in most bills proposed to Congress merely state that the tribe, "from time immemorial" and does not seek to have Congress, in a sideways manner, give some kind of left handed recognition to a government that supposedly is already recognized.


Part-2
The Cherokee Nation was organized as a government under the terms of the 1839 Constitution by a delegation of the inherent sovereign authority of the Cherokee people to govern themselves. That right has been reaffirmed time and again by the courts and Congress.

The U.S. Congress restricted the sovereign authority of the Cherokee people's government in 1898 by passing the Curtis Act, which stripped the Cherokee government of its courts and made its laws unenforceable in the state and federal courts.

Following major efforts on the part of Congress to dismantle the Cherokee Nation, a bill was passed in 1906 continuing the Cherokee Nation "in full force and effect" according to law, but completely removed the legislative branch and took democracy away from the Cherokee people by providing that the principal chief would be appointed by the President.

Thus, we have a tribal government, continuing in full force and effect, but restricted according to law. In other words, the 1839 Constitution, which had created the Cherokee Nation was recognized and continued. The 1898 Curtis Act was recognized as controlling and diminishing the sovereign authority of the tribe by abolishing its courts. The citizenship of the Cherokee Nation was "frozen" by Congress when it closed the Dawes Rolls, providing that the individuals born to Dawes enrollees were merely descendants, but not citizens. The only citizens of the Cherokee Nation are those persons listed upon the Dawes Commission Rolls, and their numbers are few, as those yet living would be 100 years old or older.

The inherent sovereignty remained and remains "occupied and in use" by the 1839 Constitution. The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, a pretender and usurper of the Cherokee people's inherent authority, is a corporation created by the Principal Chief to aid him in governing. There have been no actions taken by the Cherokee people, or the U.S. Congress, which could provide for the reorganization of the Cherokee Nation under a new constitution. Such an action would require federal legislation superseding the 1906 Five Tribes Act. The OIWA could provide the authority for reorganizing the Cherokee Nation, but the Cherokee people have chosen not to take advantage of the rehabilitating provisions of that piece of legislation.

The Cherokee Nation remains disabled and unable to function fully as the government of the Cherokee people, while the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma pretends to be that government. The passage of time and the CNO acting in the stead of the Cherokee Nation have convinced most Cherokees that it is the Cherokee Nation. However, the passage of time and illegal actions cannot legitimize the CNO. That which was illegitimate from its beginning cannot be made legitimate by the passage of time.

Can the Cherokee people defy the U.S. Congress and reorganize and rehabilitate their government without organizing under the OIWA? The answer is yes. We, the Cherokee people do not need the permission of Congress to reorganize our government. Will Congress recognize such reorganization? Who knows? Its risky, but definitely worth the effort because our inherent sovereignty is at stake. Did the Cherokee people reorganize and rehabilitate their government by adopting the 1975 and the 1999 Constitutions? No. Those documents were conceived in deceit and did not originate from the original inherent sovereignty of the Cherokee people as delegated to the government by and through the 1839 Constitution.